With many cities under lockdown, local riders have volunteered to deliver medicines, groceries and meals to the elderly and families under quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic. One group of cyclists, the Relief Riders, have expanded across eight cities, including Bengaluru and Mumbai and use algorithms to match delivery requests with a nearby volunteer for efficiency of services.
“In the last two weeks, we have added volunteers. In Bengaluru city alone, we have more than 200,” said Sathya Sankaran, the Organiser of Relief Riders and the ‘bicycle mayor’ of Bengaluru city. “We figured that shortages will ease if we can help people stay indoors and stay safe,” said Sankaran, who also runs Urban Morph, a social enterprise that works to increase mobility in urban areas.
